Kurī is the Māori name for an extinct New Zealand dog. It was introduced to New Zealand by the Polynesian ancestors of the Māori during their migration from East Polynesia in the 13th century AD. According to Māori tradition, the demigod Māui transformed his brother-in-law Irawaru into the first dog.[1]
Description
Kurī were bushy-tailed, with short legs and powerful shoulders. Their coat colour ranged from yellowish brown to black, white, or spotted. Like other Polynesian dog breeds, they howled instead of barked – the Māori word for the howl was auau.[2]
Use
Kurī were a source of food for Māori, and considered a delicacy. British explorer James Cook sampled kurī on his 1769 voyage and declared that it was almost as tasty as lamb.[2]
Kurī were also used to hunt birds.[2] In addition, Māori used their skins and fur to make dog-skin cloaks (kahu kurī),[3] belts,[4] weapon decorations[5][6] and poi.[7]
Extinction
Kurī were seen widely across New Zealand during Cook's first voyage in 1769.[2] The kurī became extinct in New Zealand in the 1860s, following the arrival of European settlers; the breed was unable to survive interbreeding with European dogs. The remains of the last known specimens, a female and her pup, are now in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.[8]
^Best, Elsdon (1924). The Maori. Vol. 1. Wellington: The Polynesian Society. pp. 433–435. OCLC222243473.
Further reading
Alto, Jan (1970). The Maori Dog: A Study of the Polynesian Dog of New Zealand. Auckland: M.A Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Auckland. OCLC277831950.
Allo Bay-Peter en. J. L. 1979. The role of the dog in the economy of the New Zealand Maori. In Anderson. A. J. (Ed). Birds of a Feather: Osteological and Archaeological papers from the South Pacific in honour of R. J. Scarlett: 165- 181. British Archaeological Records. International Series 62.
Anderson, A. J.; Clark, G. R. (March 2001). "Advances in New Zealand Mammalogy 1990–2000: Polynesian Dog or Kuri". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 31 (1). Wellington: Royal Society of New Zealand: 161–163. doi:10.1080/03014223.2001.9517645. OCLC4901500463.
Black, G. J. (March 1922). "A Maori Dog-skin Cloak (Kaha Kuri)". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 31 (1). Wellington: The Polynesian Society: 59–63. JSTOR20701862. OCLC6015242651.
Clark, Geoffrey R. (1995). The Kuri in Prehistory: a Skeletal Analysis of the Extinct Maori Dog. MA thesis, Anthropology Department, University of Otago
Clark, Geoffrey R. (April 1997). "Anthropogenic Factors and Prehistoric Dog Morphology: A Case Study from Polynesia". Archaeology in Oceania. 32 (1). Sydney: Oceania Publications, University of Sydney: 124–130. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.1997.tb00378.x. JSTOR40387064. OCLC6015358906.
Clark, Geoffrey R (1997b). "Maori Subsistence Change: Zooarchaeological Evidence from the Prehistoric Dog of New Zealand". Asian Perspectives. 36 (2): 200–219. JSTOR42928408.
Clout, Stephanie Dale (2003). The archaeology, ethnography and mitochondrial genetics of the extinct Polynesian dog : a select annotated bibliography : submitted to the School of Communications and Information Management, Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Library and Information Studies. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. OCLC904068456.
Luomala, Katharine (1960). Stanley Diamond (ed.). "The Native Dog in the Polynesian System of Values". Culture in History: Essays in Honor of Paul Radin (1st ed.). New York: Columbia University Press: 190–240. OCLC16324448.
Murison, W. D. (1877). "Note on the wild dog. Appendix to Gillies. R. Note on some Changes in the Fauna of Otago". Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute. 10: 306–324.
Skinner, W. H. (September 1914). "The Ancient Maori Dog". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 23 (3). Wellington: The Polynesian Society: 173–175. JSTOR20701078. OCLC6015299748.
Titcomb, Margaret; Pukui, Mary Kawena (1969). Dog and Man in the Ancient Pacific, with Special Attention to Hawaii. Vol. 59. Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publications. OCLC925631874.
Williams, Carys (2015). For the Love of Dog – A Discussion on Dog Domestication with an Ethnographic Focus on the Islands of the South Pacific. Oxford: University of Oxford.
Wilson, Andrew (March 1913). "Notes and Queries: The Native Dog (Kuri Maori)". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 22 (1). Wellington: The Polynesian Society: 42. JSTOR20701019. OCLC811588371.
Wood, Jamie R.; Crown, Cole; Theresa, L; Wilmshurst, Janet M. (2016). "Microscopic and ancient DNA profiling of Polynesian dog (kurī) coprolites from northern New Zealand". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 6: 496–505. Bibcode:2016JArSR...6..496W. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2016.03.020.